Archaeology Notes
Event ID 714386
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/714386
NT28SE 5.00 centred 2944 8245
NT28SE 5.01 NT 29399 82670 Coast Battery
NT28SE 5.02 NT 29241 83120 Coast Battery
NT28SE 5.03 NT 29577 82268 and NT 29614 82307 Coast Battery
NT28SE 5.04 NT 29059 82990 Coast Battery
NT28SE 5.05 NT 29277 82945 Coast Battery
NT28SE 5.06 NT 29474 82471 Coast Battery
NT28SE 5.07 NT 29113 82875 Coast Battery
NT28SE 5.08 NT 29376 82715 and NT 29370 82727 Anti Aircraft Battery
NT28SE 5.09 NT c. 2942 8262 Radar site; Observation Post
NT28SE 5.10 NT 29503 82421 Anti Aircraft Battery
NT28SE 5.11 NT c. 2906 8296 Anti Aircraft Battery
NT28SE 5.12 NT 29329 82811 Observation post (Fire command post); Naval Signal Station
NT28SE 5.13 Centred NT 29413 82512 Military Camp
NT28SE 5.14 NT c. 2929 8291 Observation Posts (Old fire command N)
NT28SE 5.15 NT 29242 82758 Pillbox
NT28SE 5.16 NT 29472 82325 Pillbox
NT28SE 5.17 NT 29577 82219 Pillbox
NT28SE 5.18 NT 29628 82283 Pillbox
NT28SE 5.19 NT 29563 82490 Pillbox
NT28SE 5.20 NT 29530 82659 Pillbox
NT28SE 5.21 NT 29408 82918 Pillbox
NT28SE 5.22 NT 29364 82992 Pillbox
NT28SE 5.23 NT 29108 83007 Pillbox
NT28SE 5.24 Centred NT 29165 82811 Building; Huts
NT28SE 5.25 NT 29149 82999 Drill Hall; Officers Quarters
NT28SE 5.26 NT 29169 83024 Engine House
NT28SE 5.27 Centred NT 29356 82758 Water Supply Site
NT28SE 5.28 NT 29583 82256 Trench (fire trench)
NT28SE 5.29 Centred NT 29208 82930 Huts; Buildings
NT28SE 5.30 NT 29443 82595 Anti Aircraft Battery
NT28SE 5.31 NT 29526 82407 Anti Aircraft Battery
NT28SE 5.32 NT 29463 82721 and NT 29511 82526 Trenches (Fire trenches)
NT28SE 5.33 NT 29530 82307 and NT 29519 82318 Engine House; Oil Storage Tanks
NT28SE 5.34 NT 29276 82914 Anti Aircraft Battery
NT28SE 5.35 NT 29229 83183 Anti Aircraft Battery (possible)
NT28SE 5.36 NT 29250 83042 Observation Post (Battery Control Post, North)
NT28SE 5.37 NT 29232 83094 Store (S.A.A. store)
NT28SE 5.38 NT 29182 82724 to NT 29385 82562 Tramway
NT28SE 5.39 NT 29211 83236 Searchlight Emplacement
NT28SE 5.40 NT 29569 82231 Searchlight Battery
NT28SE 5.41 NT 29026 82991 Searchlight Battery
NT28SE 5.42 NT 29125 82971 Trenches (Fire trenches)
NT28SE 5.43 NT 29194 82809 Trenches (Fire trenches)
NT28SE 5.44 NT 29455 82567 Observation Post
NT28SE 5.45 NT 29468 82510 Observation Post
NT28SE 5.46 NT 29346 82784 Observation Post
NT28SE 5.47 NT 29360 82799 Observation Post
NT28SE 5.48 NT 29279 82853 Observation Post
NT28SE 5.49 NT 29294 82886 Observation Post
NT28SE 5.50 NT 29246 82950 Storehouse
NT28SE 5.51 NT 29244 82931 Kitchen
NT28SE 5.52 NT 29163 82887 Cart Shed; Storehouse
NT28SE 5.53 NT 29239 82847 Hut
NT28SE 5.54 NT 29165 82839 Workshop
NT28SE 5.55 NT 29197 82780 Office
NT28SE 5.56 NT 29232 82762 Storehouse
NT28SE 5.57 NT 29295 82732 Workshop; Building
NT28SE 5.58 NT 29078 83003 Firing Range
NT28SE 5.59 NT 29433 82495 Hospital
For earlier military structures see NT28SE 1.00
Inchkeith was fortified in 1878-81 by the erection of three polygonal batteries, one in each of the three headlands. Connected one with the other by a military road 1 1/2 miles long, they are yet entirely isolated by ditches 20ft deep and almost as many broad, while their massive parapet walls rise 4 1/2ft above the floor of the interior.
F H Groome 1901.
These fortifications are now ruined but are generally as described above.
Visited by OS (BS) 14 September 1978.
Inchkeith was re-fortified and re-armed during both the First and Second World Wars with several different calibres of guns. Many of the present remains relate to the 1939-45 war period, and include light anti-aircraft positions. The 9 or 10" batteries face eastwards whilst the 6" guns facing N and S were built to cover the channels to the N and S. These are annotated on a plan of the island (PRO 192/251) under the following names, A,(with Nos 1 and 2 6" guns) B, F, L, M groups, North Gun No.1, West guns Nos. 1 and 2. All batteries have their observation posts with a main 'Fire Control' area situated centrally on the island. In addition there are extensive administrative, domestic, supply and ammunition storage facilities along the whole length of the island.
The date and function of the trenchwork system at the S end of the island are unkown. Two wartime oblique aerial photographs show the situation in October 1941, with many of the temporary accommodation buildings visible.
Information from RCAHMS (DE); J Guy 1994, NMRS MS 810/3, PRO WO/192/251.
Most of the gun-emplacements and the accommodation huts are visible on a series of RAF WW II oblique air photographs (S 309, 6957-6961, flown 2 October 1941).
Information from RCAHMS (DE), March 2005
Following a photographic survey in February 2009, RCAHMS returned to Inchkeith in February 2010 to undertake a measured drawing survey of selected structures.
During this visit further military installations were discovered including a further two Unrotating Projectile (UP) holdfasts, a name pecked into a threshold concrete block at the entrance to a searchlight emplacement.
Information from RCAHMS (DRE), 2010.
Inchkeith, a small, steep-sided island set in a key position in the middle of the Firth of Forth, 5 miles north of the port of Leith, is a natural defensive site from which to observe and control enemy shipping entering the Firth or threatening the port of Leith. Its lighthouse was built on the highest point by Thomas Smith and his son-in-law Robert Stevenson in 1803. In 1878, batteries effectively acting as self-contained fortresses were built at three points and, as indicated on this map, by the time the First World War broke out, the island was bristling with military installations including gun emplacements, a signal station, a quantity of fire trenches sited strategically along the uppermost edges of the steep slopes, ammunition and artillery stores, an engine shed, water tanks as well as a telephone room, a look-out hut, accommodation for those stationed there, a main harbour (Leith) and two subsidiary ones (Kirkcaldy and Kinghorn).
To complete the picture of an impregnable island fortress, the map shows the positioning and extent of wire entanglement round the edges of the island to prevent ingress by any enemy. Further installations were added prior to the Second World War as part of the defence of the Firth of Forth from enemy shipping. Understandably, when made, the map was for War Department use only and this copy of the map, once de-classified, entered the National Library of Scotland in the 1980s via official Ministry of Defence disposal channels.
Information from Mr C Fleet (Senior Map Curator, National Library of Scotland), 14 October 2011.
Source: War Department / Ordnance Survey, Inchkeith (Kinghorn Ph.) Fifeshire. 1:2500 (surveyed 1911, printed 1914)). NLS Shelfmark: Map.Area.C18:13(3)
